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YYV  | Vol.  XXIV  OCTOBER,  1921  NO  S ] 

A 1.  - " 

X 

^ What  Shall  We  Do 
With  the  Moros 

41  * 

'/I/\\  Rev.  Frank  C.  Laubach,  Ph.D. 

yl  \ Cagayan,  Mindanao,  P.  I. 

'U . 

\VA  AMERICAN  BOARD  & COMMISSIONERS 
S°r  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  l4BeaconStB°iton 

X 

FOREWORD 


There  are  two  reasons  for  reading  this  ar- 
ticle; at  least  two. 

First:  It  deals  with  the  Philippines.  Amer- 

ica’s responsibility  for  the  Philippines  is 
freshly  and  emphatically  recognized  by  the 
appointment  of  General  Leonard  Wood  as 
Director  General  of  these  islands,  and  by  his 
self-sacrificing  acceptance  of  the  post.  We 
have  an  obligation  to  this  land  and  people 
that  fell  into  our  hands  so  surprisingly;  a 
land  and  a people  we  cannot  cast  off  and 
must  not  neglect. 

Second:  It  deals  with  a Moslem  popula- 

tion in  the  Philippines.  And  the  Moslem 
problem  is  of  foremost  concern  in  securing 
world  peace  as  well  as  world  evangelization. 
Think  of  Turkey;  of  India;  of  North  Af- 
rica! It  means  everything  to  find  a doorway 
into  the  Moslem  world. 

A third  reason  why  one  should  read  this  ar- 
ticle is  because  it  is  so  interesting,  so  stir- 
ring. w.  e.  s. 


Entered  ns  second  class  mail  matter  at  the  Post  Office  at  Boston, 
Mass.  Acceptance  for  mailing  at  special  rate  of  postage  provided  for  in 
section  1104,  Act  of  October  3,  1917,  authorized  on  June  21,  1918.  The 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  14  Beacon  8t., 
Boston,  Mass.  Annual  subscription,  ten  (10)  cents. 


What  Shall  We  Do  With  the 
Moros? 

By  Rev.  Frank  C.  Laubach,  Pii.D. 

Cagayan,  Mindanao,  P.  I. 

Imagine  a globe.  Paint  on  it  an  imaginary  American 
flag;  make  it  reach  half  way  around  the  world  from  the 
tip  of  Maine  at  one  end  to  the  furthest  island  of  the 
Philippines  at  the  other.  Now  turn  the  imaginary  globe 
over,  and  on  the  other  side  paint  a huge  green  stocking 
covering  all  northern  Africa  and  Southern  Asia.  This 
green  stocking  represents  the  territory  covered  by  Mo- 
hammedanism. The  heel  of  that  green  stocking  ends  in 
Mindanao,  the  southernmost  island  of  the  Philippines,  and 
there  the  tip  of  the  American  flag  flies  over  the  heel  of 
Islam.  In  the  heel,  under  our  flag,  live  a half  million 
“Moros.” 

The  Moros  do  not  suspect  it,  and  few  Americans  suspect 
it,  but  the  fact  is  that  we  may,  if  we  will,  make  them  as 
important,  in  many  respects,  as  any  half  million  people 
in  the  whole  globe.  They  are  the  raw  material  (with  all 
the  stress  you  please  upon  “raw”),  and  they  have  the 
strategic  position  for  just  that. 

They  hold  the  key  to  Mohammedanism, — if  there  is 
any  key. 

\Ve  in  America  sometimes  forget  that  that  great,  green 
Moslem  stocking  always  was  and  still  is  the  deadliest  foe 
and  the  keenest  rival  of  Christianity.  The  trouble  is  that 
both  Mohammedanism  and  Christianity  want  to  conquer 
the  world.  They  have  tried  to  destroy  each  other  and 
to  convert  each  other,  but  neither  of  them  have  ever  made 
great  inroads  on  the  other.  • 

In  the  conversion  line  we  may  as  well  be  honest  and 
confess  that  the  Mohammedans  have  made  more  converts 


3 


“Moros  are  men  — They  know  a man  when  they  see  one” 


of  us  Christians  than  we  have  made  Christians  out  of 
them  to  date.  They  have  an  advantage  over  us  in  their 
harems.  All  they  have  to  do,  when  they  invade  a new 
territory,  is  to  kill  the  men  and  carry  the  women  and 
children  off  to  their  harems  and  keep  them  there  until  they 
lose  their  identity  and  are  absorbed  into  the  religion  and 
social  system  of  Islam.  That  is  what  Turkey  is  doing 
with  Armenia. 


Some  Fearful  Scares 

And  they  have  given  us  some  fearful  scares  in  certain 
periods.  For  example  in  732  A.  D.  they  came  so  close 
to  destroying  Christian  civilization  that  one  gasps  to  im- 
agine what  might  have  been  if  one  battle  had  gone  the 
other  way.  They  had  swept  across  Northern  Africa', 
crossed  Gibralter,  overwhelmed  Spain  and  begun  their 
march  through  France.  There  they  were  met  by  the 
united  armies  of  a terrified  Europe,  fighting  with  their 
backs  against  the  wall.  It  is  easy  to  prove  that  the  most 
important  battle  that  ever  happened.  If  the  Moslems  had 
won,  England  might  today  be  another  Turkey,  France 
another  Persia,  and  probably  America  would  not  yet  be 
discovered.  But  happily  the  battle  of  Tours  was  won  by 
Christendom,  and  the  green  stocking  never  extended  above' 
Spain.  Slowly,  century  after  century  the  Moros,  as  the 
Spaniards  called  the  Moslems,  were  pushed  southward. 
On  the  very  year  that  Columbus  discovered  America  the 
last  of  the  Moors  were  defeated  in  the  battle  of  Granada 
and  driven  out  of  Spain. 

In  the  eleventh  century  the  moral  indignation  of  Eu- 
rope worked  itself  into  a white  heat.  Armies  sprang  up 
in  every  country,  and  marched,  more  or  less  loosely  or- 
ganized, to  save  the  Holy  Land  from  its  unholy  captors. 
Jerusalem  was  taken  in  the  first  Crusade,  and  held  for 
ninety  years.  Then  the  Mohammedans,  in  a counter- 
crusade  (which  they  called  a “Jehad”)  recaptured  Jerusa- 


5 


lem  and  finally  pushed  across  into  what  is  now  European 
Turkey. 

When  that  happened  the  old  routes  to  the  silks,  satins, 
spices  and  coffees  of  the  East  Indies  were  cut  completely 
off. 

That  is  why  Columbus  tried  to  go  around  the  world 
the  other  way,  not  suspecting  that  a whole  continent  lay 
between  him  and  Asia.  Magellan  crept  down  around  the 
lower  end  of  America  and  went  across  an  ocean  ten  thou- 
sand miles  wide  in  sail  boats.  Month  after  month  those 
sailors  sailed  on  and  on  and  on  — and  one  of  the  few 
things  they  had  to  congratulate  themselves  about  was 
that  the  farther  they  sailed  the  farther  they  were  getting 
away  from  the  feared  and  hated  Moslems,  who  had  just 
been  chased  out  of  Spain.  One  can  imagine  them  talking 
as  they  paced  the  hot  decks: 

“Whatever  dangers  may  lie  ahead,  at  least  we  are  safe 
from  the  Moors.” 

The  Terror  of  the  Philippines 

At  last  they  reached  the  Philippine  Islands,  gave  thanks 
to  almighty  God  for  having  shown  them  the  way  to  the 
fabulous  riches  of  the  Far  East,  began  to  explore  — and 
found  the  Moslems,  coming  around  the  world  the  other 
way!  In  all  the  annals  of  disappointed  hopes  there  are 
few  more  tragic  tales  than  this.  Fortunes  risked,  months 
of  preparation,  months  of  hardship,  of  bitter  cold,  fierce 
storms,  torrid  heat,  deadly  fever,  unknown  dangers,  every- 
thing risked  to  save  themselves  and  Europe  from  the 
scourge  of  the  Moros.  Then  at  the  moment  of  success, 
when  the  East  Indies  had  been  discovered,  the  world 
circled,  Europe  saved,  when  their  hearts  overflowed  with 
thanksgiving  — when  they  thought  themselves  twenty 
thousand  miles  from  the  Moslems,  suddenly  they  ran  into 
them  again,  fiercer  here,  more  deadly,  more  formidable, 
than  ever.  They  must  have  felt  sick  and  stunned. 

Fortunately  the  Moros  (as  the  Spaniards  called  them) 

6 


had  been  in  the  Philippines  only  a few  years  and  had  oc- 
cupied principally  the  extreme  southern  part  of  the  Is- 
lands. Fortunately  too,  they  had  a habit  of  fighting  one 
another  when  they  had  nobody  else  to  fight,  and  had  kept 
their  own  numbers  down  by  war. 

Experience  had  shown  that  the  only  thing  to  do  with 
Moors  was  to  exterminate  them,  and  this  the  Spaniards 
proceeded  to  do  as  soon  as  they  felt  strong  enough.  They 
equipped  a fleet  and  sailed  to  Mindanao.  The  extermi- 
nation went  the  way  the  Spaniards  had  not  intended,  for 
scarcely  a Spaniard  escaped  to  tell  what  happened  to  their 
fleet. 

That  ill  fated  expedition  had  stirred  up  a hornets’  nest. 
The  Moros  stopped  fighting  one  another  and  organized 
a fleet  to  wreak  vengeance  on  the  Spaniards  for  having 
come  down  and  gotten  annihilated.  When  the  southwest 
monsoon  began  to  blow,  that  fleet  of  death  sailed  north. 
Little  they  cared  who  were  their  victims.  At  every  village 
they  reached  they  captured  the  men,  Filipinos  or  Span- 
iards, set  them  to  work  cutting  their  ripened  crops  and 
made  them  pile  the  threshed  rice  and  corn  into  the  Moro 
boats.  Then  by  way  of  reward  they  cut  off  the  heads  of 
the  men  and  carried  off  the  good  looking  women  for  their 
harems  and  the  strong  children  for  slaves. 

The  Moros  had  made  a great  discovery.  Vengeance 
proved  profitable  and  exciting.  So  when  the  next  mon- 
soon blew  north  they  repeated  the  escapade  of  the  pre- 
vious year.  The  Moro  guns  proved  superior  to  the  guns 
of  the  Spaniards  during  the  first  two  centuries  of  their  con- 
flict. Had  they  deliberately  planned  to  wipe  out  the  in- 
vaders they  could  have  done  so,  but  the  Moros  had 
plenty  of  room  and  they  looked  upon  the  Philippine  Is- 
lands as  an  English  gentleman  does  upon  his  poaching 
ground.  The  Islands  made  fine  sport  and  added  im- 
mensely to  the  joy  of  living,  so  they  were  left  unmolested 
excepting  during  hunting  season,  which  was  while  the 
southwest  monsoon  was  blowing. 

7 


The  Filipinos  came  to  expect  this  scourge  as  a regular 
part  of  their  yearly  life.  Watch  towers  were  built,  where 
vigilant  eyes  waited  night  and  day  during  all  the  danger- 
ous season,  ready  to  sound  the  alarm  that  the  Moros 
were  coming,  so  that  the  inhabitants  might  flee  to  the 
hills  and  save  their  lives  and  as  much  of  their  possessions 
as  they  could  carry  with  them.  Forts  were  built  in  some 
of  the  larger  places  and  stocked  with  food  to  endure  a 
seige.  Manila  had  a wall  around  the  entire  city. 

In  the  nineteenth  century  the  Spaniards,  in  common 
with  all  Europe,  so  improved  their  weapons  that  they 
were  able  to  make  inroads  into  the  Moro  territory  and  to 
establish  a few  military  outposts  among  them.  But  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  the  Moros  remained  free  from  all 
real  control  by  Spain. 

America  Arrives  on  the  Scene 

Then  America  arrived  and  the  Moros  met  their  masters. 
The  reputation  of  the  Moros  had  gone  before  them,  and 
the  Americans  never  made  the  mistake  of  underestimating 
them  as  the  Spaniards  had  done.  The  mistakes  that  were 
made  were  not  the  result  of  unpreparedness.  The  War 
Department,  realizing  that  here  was  the  most  delicate  and 
difficult  region  within  the  boundaries  of  America,  sent 
some  great  men  to  deal  with  the  situation  — and  several 
were  made  great  by  the  experience.  Pershing,  Leonard 
Wood,  Bullard,  Davis,  Baldwin,  Sumner,  these  and  others 
only  less  well  known,  were  not  only  soldiers  but  states- 
men. 

Unlike  the  Spaniards  these  American  generals  had  no 
desire  to  destroy  the  Moros.  They  did  not  even  try  to 
convert  them.  All  they  asked  was  peace  and  obedience. 
They  never  attacked  first,  but  when  the  Moros  attacked, 
the  recoil  was  quick  and  terrible.  The  Moros  fought  with 
the  same  amazing  carelessness  of  life  they  had  always 
shown.  But  it  began  to  dawn  upon  them  that  they  al- 
ways lost,  that  nothing  happened  unless  they  began  the 

8 


trouble;  and  that  they  did  the  Americans  little  harm,  while 
they  themselves  took  all  the  punishment.  They  began  to 
feel  as  foolish  as  a man  who  bumps  his  nose  against  a 
stone  wall.  They  were  brave,  but  that  kind  of  folly  was 
not  bravery.  A Moro  is  perfectly  willing  to  die  killing 
Christians  — if  he  kills  any.  But  he  sees  little  glory  in 
trying  to  kill  them  and  failing. 

An  astonished  admiration  began  to  steal  into  the  souls 
of  the  Moros  for  these  new  soldiers.  Here  surely  was  a 


An  American-Filipino  Trade  School 

This  picture  shows  a part  of  the  work  shop  of  a Trade  School  organized  by 
General  Pershing,  when  he  was  Governor  of  the  Moro  Province.  The  school  was 
organized  to  teach  boys  from  the  wild  tribes  different  trades  and  agriculture. 
Carpentry,  blacksmithing,  rattan  work,  agriculture  and  regular  school  work  are 
taught  these  mountain  boys.  The  school  we  believe  to  be  one  of  the  finest  bits 
of  work  done  either  by  government  or  mission  force.  Some  fifty  boys,  a few  from 
each  tribe,  were  there  in  training,  free  of  expense  to  pupil  at  the  time  this  picture 
was  taken. 


9 


new,  strange  species.  The  Moros  could  not  understand 
them,  yet  all  the  while  the  American  leaders  seemed  to 
read  the  Moros  like  a book. 

General  Wood  made  a scientific  study  of  the  psychology 
of  the  Moros.  He  bought  all  the  books  on  Mohammedan- 
ism, the  Moros  and  the  Orient  that  he  thought  had  any 
value.  He  had  a room  full  of  them.  When  a friend  asked 
him  when  he  ever  expected  to  read  them  all,  he  replied, 

“I  have  read  them.” 

That  did  not  satisfy  Wood.  Instead  of  going  directly 
to  Moroland  he  spent  several  months  in  Borneo,  Sumatra, 
Singapore  and  Java,  learning  all  he  could  from  the  Dutch 
and  English  rulers  and  from  the  natives  about  the  preju- 
dices and  habits  of  the  Malay  Moslems.  When  he  did 
reach  the  Moros  he  knew  exactly  what  he  meant  to  do. 
He  knew  how  to  reach  their  hearts  and  win  their  loyalty. 
Every  subordinate  was  selected  with  the  utmost  care,  and 
given  careful  instructions.  The  entire  force  knew  that 
they  were  on  their  good  behavior. 

Those  Moros  with  all  their  bloody  characteristics  are 
men.  They  worship  physical  power,  but  even  more  they 
worship  mental  astuteness.  They  know  a man  when  they 
see  him,  and  seeing  men  in  Wood  and  his  staff,  they  loved 
them  — if  the  Moros  ever  loved  anybody. 

General  Wood  and  “Rajah  Mudah” 

When  Wood  first  landed  in  Jolo  the  Sultan  was  absent 
in  Borneo,  but  “Rajah  Mudah”  was  acting  as  Sultan  in 
his  place.  General  Wood  sent  the  Rajah  a cordial  invita- 
tion to  come  and  visit  him.  The  Rajah  replied  that  he 
was  ill.  Wood  sent  a company  of  soldiers  to  inquire  after 
the  Rajah’s  health.  They  stood  at  attention  in  front  of 
the  house  while  the  Captain  sent  the  Rajah  word  that  he 
hoped  he  had  recovered  sufficiently  to  go  with  them  to  see 
the  General.  Seeing  the  soldiers,  the  Rajah  made  a very 
rapid  recovery  and  went  with  the  company.  Upon  his 


io 


arrival,  Wood  conducted  him  about  the  camp,  pointing  out 
the  size  and  discipline  of  the  American  soldiers.  Then 
he  inquired  whether  it  would  not  be  interesting  to  see  a 
machine  gun  work.  After  the  machine  gun  had  mowed 
down  a few  trees,  the  Rajah  became  enthusiastically 
friendly. 

Similar  treatment  worked  among  the  other  chieftains 
until  they  were  requested  to  free  their  slaves.  Then  they 
all  threatened  civil  war,  even  in  the  face  of  those  machine 
guns. 

Datu  Ali,  the  greatest  of  the  Jolo  Datos,  shut  himself 
and  his  warriors  up  in  his  bamboo  fort. 

Bamboo  forts  are  more  formidable  than  they  sound. 
For  some  six  feet  above  the  ground  they  are  a tightly 
woven  mass  of  roots  and  mud,  six  or  more  feet  in  thick- 
ness, and  above  this  the  great  bamboos  rise  to  a height  of 
thirty  or  more  feet,  almost  as  thick  as  they  will  grow  and 
covered  with  thorns.  Such  a fort  is  simply  impregnable 
by  direct  infantry  or  cavalry  attack.  With  modern  field 
guns  it  is  quite  another  matter. 

Wood,  always  sparing  of  lives,  was  profligate  with  am- 
munition. He  simply  smothered  this  Moro  fort  with  ar- 
tillery fire.  The  Datu  Ali  was  killed  and  with  him  all  the 
warriors  who  did  not  turn  and  flee. 

The  last  and  most  difficult  of  all  the  tribes  in  Moroland 
were  the  Taraccas,  at  Lake  Lanao.  They  are  twenty-five 
miles  from  the  shore  and  had  to  be  reached  by  a danger- 
ous mountain  road.  Unable  to  withstand  the  superior 
guns  of  the  American  troops  they  at  last  retreated  into 
an  extinct  volcano.  Wood  did  not  have  guns  big  enough 
to  blow  a crater  to  pieces.  This  time  it  was  necessary  to 
make  a direct  attack  with  all  the  loss  of  life  that  would 
mean.  The  attack  was  made  and  the  Taraccas  were 
defeated  only  after  one  of  the  costliest  battles  in  all  the 
Philippines.  The  last  and  strongest  retreat  of  the  Moros 
had  now  fallen  and  the  back-bone  of  their  resistance  was 
broken. 


Establishing  Law  and  Order 

Now  came  the  enormous  task  of  bringing  order  out  of  a 
land  as  near  anarchy  as  any  place  on  earth.  It  is  more 
accurate  to  call  it  feudalism  than  anarchy  — with  the  em- 
phasis on  feud.  Captain  Bullard  has  written  a delightful 
account  of  his  experiences  at  Lake  Lanao  in  the  early  days. 
The  Lake  is  about  twenty-five  miles  in  length,  apparently 
occupying  the  crater  of  an  enormous  extinct  volcano. 
Around  its  shores  are  about  ninety  thousand  Moros  di- 
vided into  “an  infinity  of  little  tribelets,”  each  ruled,  at 
least  more  or  less  ruled,  by  small  chieftains  having  pomp- 
ous titles  like  Sultan  or  Rajah,  yet  no  more  power  than 
their  personal  prowess  could  command.  Under  these  in 
rank  but  not  in  obedience  are  countless  lesser  datos,  with 
their  “sakops”  or  vassals,  who  are  really  servants. 

When  Americans  arrived  they  found  these  tribes  in  a 
state  of  continual  warfare  and  private  quarrelling.  There 
were  no  courts,  so  that  each  family  had  to  square  its  ac- 
counts with  every  other  by  direct  action.  The  atmos- 
phere was  tense  with  apprehension.  Men  never  thought 
of  eating,  working  or  sleeping  without  their  arms.  Wives 
or  children  who  ventured  out  of  sight  without  a guard  were 
likely  to  be  stolen  and  run  off  into  slavery.  They  would 
be  sold  from  hand  to  hand  and  soon  lost  beyond  all  power 
of  retracing.  Life  in  Moroland  in  those  days  was  not 
good  for  weak  nerves. 

It  happened  that  a scourge  of  cholera  broke  out  about 
the  same  time  that  the  Americans  arrived,  and  the  Moros 
thought  the  soldiers  had  brought  the  disease  with  them. 
They  reasoned  that  the  way  to  be  rid  of  the  cholera  was 
to  kill  the  soldiers.  They  laid  in  ambush  and  picked  off 
every  small  group  of  Americans  who  ventured  out  of  the 
camp. 

One  old  Moro  named  Alandug  who  lived  on  the  coast 
and  had  seen  more  of  civilization  than  the  others  kept 
visiting  the  camp  and  talking  with  Captain  Bullard. 


12 


Noticing  that  the  Americans  were  not  dying  of  cholera, 
he  inquired  the  reason.  Bullard  took  him  out  to  see  the 
men  boiling  water  before  drinking  it,  and  told  the  Moro 
that  the  fire  chased  the  cholera  out  of  the  water. 

The  Moros  are  very  skeptical  men,  and  cross  question 
one  about  almost  everything,  but  to  Bullard’s  surprise  this 
old  Moro  believed  the  story  about  the  fire  at  once,  and 
began  to  spread  among  other  Moros  the  information  that 
the  Americans  have  good  Mohammedan  doctrines,  for 
they  drive  devils  out  of  water  with  fire.  In  a short  time 
the  Moros  began  to  come  from  every  direction  with  all 
sorts  of  ailments  and  medicine,  particularly  quinine,  be- 
came one  of  Bullard’s  chief  allies. 

Ruling  by  Work  Rather  Than  Fear 

Knowing  well  that  “Moros  could  be  managed  in  only 
one  of  two  ways  — by  putting  them  to  work  and  keeping 
them  at  work,  or  by  putting  them  in  fear  and  keeping 
them  in  fear,”  Bullard  set  them  to  work  building  a road  to 
the  interior,  paying  what  to  them  seemed  enormous  wages. 
Here  again  is  seen  the  difference  between  American  and 
Spanish  strategy,  for  the  Spanish  soldiers  would  have 
made  the  Moros  work  for  nothing.  Old  Alandug  came 
first  “with  a handful  of  ugly  fellows  whom  we  treated  like 
kings  and  handled  like  infernal  machines  ready  to  go  off 
at  any  time.”  Charmed  by  the  money  they  received  they 
came  in  ever  increasing  numbers, — “armed,  always  armed, 
stuck  all  over  with  daggers  and  krises.”  Even  bitter  ene- 
mies, who,  if  they  had  met  anywhere  else,  would  have 
fought  to  the  death,  buried  their  deadly  hatred  for  the  time 
in  their  love  of  gold  and  copper  and  silver,  and  worked 
side  by  side  on  the  road.  A new  force,  the  love  of  money, 
was  at  work  among  the  Moros,  and  far  from  being  “a  root 
of  all  kinds  of  evil”  it  worked  for  peace  and  progress. 

Bullard  had  become  their  doctor  and  their  employer. 
Now  he  tackled  their  religion.  He  crammed  late  into  the 


13 


night  until  he  could  talk  fluently  about  the  Koran  and  the 
following  day  amazed  the  priests  who  came  to  visit  him, 
with  his  show  of  knowledge  of  their  sacred  book.  They 
themselves  knew  precious  little  and  pretended  to  know 
everything.  In  the  presence  of  this  wizard  from  America 
who  told  them  things  about  the  Koran  they  never  knew, 
they  grew  more  and  more  reverent.  On  the  point  where 
the  Spaniards  had  had  most  trouble,  their  religion,  the 
American  governor  had  none  whatever. 

The  most  reverend  Pandita  of  them  all,  a shrewd  old 
man,  came  to  visit  the  governor  and  was  treated  with  such 
extreme  dignity,  that  he  came  again  and  talked  about  the 
Koran  to  his  heart’s  content.  Moreover,  he  was  con- 
sulted about  matters  pertaining  to  the  government  and 
thanked  for  his  great  wisdom.  This  old  priest  arose  in  a 
grand  assembly  and  solemnly  announced  that  it  was  the 
will  of  Allah  ta  Allah  that  the  Americans  should  rule  over 
the  Moro  people  and  tax  them  to  the  fifth  of  all  their 
goods  ! Taxes  to  foreigners  ! This  was  a sign  of  slavery, 
and  never  before  had  Moros  paid  a centavo  to  anybody. 
The  triumph  of  American  diplomacy  was  complete. 

Giving  Value  to  Life 

A Christian  considers  life,  his  own  and  all  others,  as  of 
infinite  worth.  “What  shall  a man  give  in  exchange  for 
his  life?”  Many  people  in  Christian  lands  seem  to  care 
little  for  other  people’s  lives,  but  they  usually  show  much 
concern  about  their  own. 

But  among  the  Moros  all  life  was  held  cheaply,  one’s 
own  as  well  as  the  lives  of  others. 

A Moro  who  was  tired  of  life  and  who  wanted  to  take 
the  shortest  road  to  the  seventh  heaven,  could  run  amock 
or  “juramentado”  as  the  Spaniards  called  it.  He  would 
bathe  in  a sacred  spring,  shave  off  his  eyebrows,  dress  in 
white,  and  present  himself  before  a pandita,  to  whom  he 
would  make  a solemn  oath  to  die  fighting  the  enemies  of 
the  faithful.  Hiding  a kris  or  other  weapon  about  his 


•4 


person,  he  would  go  to  the  nearest  Christian  town,  and  as 
soon  as  he  had  gained  admission  would  snatch  his  weapon 
from  its  concealment  and  proceed  to  kill  every  person  in 
sight,  until  he  was  killed  himself.  The  number  of  lives 
taken  by  a Moro  under  this  grim  oath  was  sometimes  in- 
credible. Simply  injuring  the  fanatic  could  not  stop  him, 
for  he  would  fight  so  long  as  there  was  life  in  him.  If 
bayonetted  he  would  often  seize  the  barrel  of  the  rifle  and 
push  the  bayonet  farther  into  himself  in  an  effort  to  bring 
the  soldier  at  the  other  end  of  the  gun  near  enough  to  cut 
him  down  with  his  barong.  At  last  the  Moro  perished 
Then  the  news  was  carried  to  his  rejoicing  relatives  who 
held  a celebration.  Just  as  night  was  coming  on  they  al- 
ways declared  they  saw  their  hero  riding  on  a white  horse, 
bound  for  the  abode  of  the  blessed. 

People  who  esteem  life  as  cheaply  as  that  are  not  to  be 
trusted  with  guns.  Depriving  them  of  their  fire  arms 
proved  one  of  the  most  delicate  tasks  the  American  gov- 
ernment undertook.  Nobody  felt  safe  unarmed,  so  long 
as  his  neighbor  had  weapons.  When  we  consider  that  the 
Moros  prized  their  guns  above  all  their  other  possessions, 
we  realize  how  hard  they  clung  to  them.  Step  by  step 
that  task  has  been  accomplished. 

Moros  have  been  enlisted  as  members  of  the  American 
army  and  make  wonderful  soldiers.  When  outlaws  are 
lurking  in  the  mountains  it  is  they  who  can  find  them 
most  quickly.  The  only  trouble  with  Moro  soldiers  is 
that  they  become  restive  when  there  is  no  excitement  for  a 
long  while,  and  sometimes  run  off  to  the  mountains  with 
their  guns  just  to  give  themselves  and  their  neighbors  re- 
lief from  monotony. 

Disarming  the  Moros  is  not  enough.  As  Bullard  early 
discovered,  they  must  be  set  to  work  and  kept  at  work. 
They  must  be  given  something  else  to  take  the  place  of 
the  blood  lust  that  flows  in  their  veins.  It  was  an  ad- 
vance to  teach  them  to  accumulate  money,  but  that  was 
not  enough. 


15 


The  governors  of  the  Moros  have  been  racking  their 
brains  to  invent  new  activities  for  the  superabundant  en- 
ergy of  these  virile  people. 

The  Ministry  of  Beauty 

Governor  Carpenter,  just  resigned,  is  generally  conceded 
to  have  been  the  most  fertile  in  original  ideas.  He  se- 
cured a landscape  gardener  from  Washington  city,  and 
set  him  to  work  beautifying  the  capital  city  of  the  Moros, 
Zamboanga.  The  gardener  was  given  plenty  of  money 
and  told  to  work  a miracle. 

Beautiful  little  parks  began  to  appear  like  magic. 
Fountains  and  charming  waterfalls  and  glorious  flower 
gardens  began  to  attract  the  admiration  of  the  Moros. 
Numerous  canals  that  had  once  been  ugly  mud  holes,  be- 
gan to  shimmer  with  exquisite  water  lilies.  Nature  had 
done  things  like  this,  for  Mindanao  is  fertile  and  has  a 
perfect  climate,  but  that  human  beings  could  achieve  such 
wonders  was  a new  idea  in  Moroland.  It  became  the 
gossip  of  the  entire  province. 

Then  there  arose  splendid  concrete  buildings.  They 
were  not  ugly  blocks  such  as  we  have  in  our  cities,  but 
were  designed,  by  architects  who  were  told  to  put  art  into 
their  designs.  There  crept  out  into  the  bay  a great  beau- 
tiful pier  brilliantly  lighted  by  dozens  of  gilded  electric 
lamps. 

When  the  fascinated  Moros  inquired  what  all  this  was 
for,  the  only  reply  they  got  was, 

“You  ought  to  see  Washington,  the  capital  of  the  United 
States !” 

In  the  last  five  years  Zamboanga  has  become  the  most 
beautiful  city  of  its  size  in  the  entire  Orient.  This  same 
landscape  genius  went  to  the  other  cities  and  towns  of  the 
Moro  Province,  establishing  a beautiful  little  park  in  the 
center  of  each. 

The  only  school  the  Moros  know  anything  about  is  ex- 
perience and  observation,  but  they  learn  in  that  school 

16 


very  quickly.  The  result  of  this  demonstration  in  beauty 
was  that  presently  one  of  the  dirtiest  peoples  you  could 
find  anywhere  was  hard  at  work  planting  flowers!  And 
trying  their  hand  at  making  rustic  paths  and  fountains. 

They  had  gotten  hold  of  a new  idea.  If  they  had  not 
yet  been  converted  to  godliness,  they  were  at  least  con- 
verted to  cleanliness.  They  had  something  to  do  to  take 
the  place  of  killing  one  another. 

Then  Governor  Carpenter  scoured  the  world  for  new 


Starting  for  the  Moro  Farm  School 

The  Lake  Lanao  launch  at  the  dock  at  Lumbaton.  where  the  government  has  a 
fann  school  for  Moro  boys.  We  made  the  trip  as  guests  of  Governor  Coverton*s 
wife  Y\  e were  gone  all  day  and  made  a circuit  of  about  sixty  miles.  Some  lake,  eh? 
Moro  population  around  the  lake  estimated  at  from  60,000  to  So.ooo. 


ideas  in  agriculture  and  industry.  Plots  of  ground  were 
selected  where  the  Moros  could  not  help  seeing  what  was 
going  on,  and  here  commercial  plants  of  all  kinds  were 
raised.  When  a plant  proved  adaptable  to  Mindanao  it 
was  raised  in  quantity  and  distributed  free  of  charge,  and 
a man  went  along  with  the  Moros  to  show  them  how  to 


1 7 


plant  and  care  for  the  new  crop. 

A weed  was  found  in  the  mountains  which  was  culti- 
vated and  proved  high  in  food  value,  and  which  now  bids 
fair  to  become  the  wheat  of  the  Philippines.  Our  Amer- 
ican wheat  will  not  grow  in  the  Philippines. 

Coffee,  tea,  rubber,  tree  cotton  (kapok)  and  many  other 
articles  of  great  commercial  value  are  becoming  common 
all  over  Moroland.  One  cannot  pass  through  that  coun- 
try without  feeling  the  keenest  enthusiasm.  With  rich 
soil,  abundant  rainfall,  wonderful  climate,  virile,  teachable, 
hard-working  people,  there  are  all  the  elements  necessary 
for  a Paradise. 

The  government  has  opened  up  markets  in  Manila  and 
elsewhere  for  the  products  of  the  Moros,  so  that  no  crop 
need  go  to  waste.  During  the  past  four  or  five  years  the 
Moros  of  the  Lanao  region  have  been  as  prosperous  as 
any  people  in  the  Philippines,  and  some  of  them  have  been 
buying  automobiles.  It  is  a queer  sight  when  an  auto 
truck  is  filled  with  a Moro  chieftain,  all  his  wives,  children 
and  movable  property,  and  a mighty  significant  sight.  In 
all  the  world  there  probably  has  never  been  such  a wide 
and  rapid  leap  from  one  civilization  to  another  as  these 
Moros  are  experiencing  — and  they  LIKE  it. 

It  is  not  exactly  a Paradise  just  yet,  and  there  are  not 
a few  serious  hindrances  to  rapid  progress.  For  example, 
the  Mohammedan  religion  forbids  borrowing  money,  mak- 
ing the  credit  system  upon  which  modern  business  rests, 
an  impossibility  among  the  Moros.  Everything  must  be 
done  on  a strictly  cash  basis. 

Then  countless  disputes  arise,  and  the  instinct  of  the 
Moros  is  to  resort  to  direct  action,  as  they  have  always 
been  accustomed  to  doing. 

Not  a Prison  But  a Farm 

Where  lawlessness  has  always  been  an  everyday  matter, 
it  is  unjust  to  deal  out  as  severe  punishment  to  those  who 
are  caught  as  we  do  in  America.  At  least  that  was  the 


18 


theory  the  officials  in  Moroland  have  worked  on.  They 
have  been  greatly  influenced  by  the  modern  idea  of 
penology.  So  if  you  wish  to  see  a thoroughly  modern 
prison  in  actual  operation,  you  can  find  it  among  the 
Moros.  San  Ramon  penitentiary  is  not  a prison  at  all  but 
a big  beautiful  farm  along  the  sea.  It  rivals  Zamboanga 
itself  for  charm.  To  the  Moros  it  is  like  sending  a man 
to  heaven  for  being  wicked,  for  it  is  by  all  odds  the  most 
lovely  and  lovable  spot  they  ever  lived  in,  or,  at  least  in 
this  generation,  will  live  in.  San  Ramon  has  but  one  ob- 
ject, to  cure  the  patient.  The  Moro  who  steals  or  murders 
is  all  too  obviously  the  victim  of  a past  bad  system,  and 
needs  to  get  a new  idea.  He  would  never  get  it  behind 
prison  walls.  He  does  get  it  on  San  Ramon  Farm. 

Here  the  prisoners  work,  but  not  harder  than  they  did 
before.  They  have  plenty  of  good  food  and  grow  fat 
and  happy.  Prisoners  weep  when  they  must  leave  that 
Eden  and  go  back  to  the  lean,  wicked  world. 

San  Ramon  boasts  of  the  finest  record  of  cured  inmates 
of  any  prison  in  the  world.  You  might  suppose  they  com- 
mit other  crimes  in  order  to  get  back.  They  would  if 
they  had  not  received  a new  idea,  but  they  do  get  that 
idea. 

One  reason  for  the  fine  record  of  San  Ramon  is,  of 
course,  that  it  gets  fine  material  to  work  with.  The 
prisoners  sent  there  are  not  simply  abnormal,  morally  de- 
fective, degenerate  men,  like  such  a large  proportion  of  our 
criminals,  but  simply  men  who  have  not  had  a chance  to 
catch  up  with  the  new  age,  an  age  of  law  instead  of  fam- 
ily feuds.  San  Ramon  helps  them  to  catch  up. 

Three  years  ago  I dare  say  there  was  not  a man  in 
Lanao  who  was  not  scared;  the  news  sped  over  the 
Province  that  the  brother-in-law  of  the  greatest  Dato  on 
the  Lake  had  been  murdered.  The  murdered  man  was 
a Mohammedan  priest  in  addition.  Here  was  a test  of 
the  new  order!  Could  it  hold  out  against  such  an  out- 


19 


rage!  Twenty  years  ago,  fifteen  years  ago,  all  Lanao 
would  have  flowed  with  the  blood  of  warring  Moros. 

It  was  of  no  consequence  that  the  Priest  had  been  killed 
by  a watchman,  while  robbing  a store.  It  was  the  dig- 
nity of  the  murdered  man  that  made  the  crime  so  heinous. 

The  next  day  hundreds  of  Moros  were  seen  marching  to 
their  rendezvous  for  a war  council.  Quick  action  by  Gov- 
ernor Coverston  alone  averted  a catastrophe.  He  went 
to  Ami  Montabelin,  the  bereaved  and  enraged  brother-in- 
law,  and  told  him  that  the  night  watchman  would  be  pun- 
ished without  delay  by  the  majesty  of  the  law.  The 
watchman  was  arrested  and  put  in  jail  and  the  judge  was 
wired  to  make  a special  trip  to  Lanao.  The  atmosphere 
was  too  tense  to  allow  the  watchman  to  remain  in  this 
vicinity  very  long.  When  the  judge  came,  the  Governor 
told  him  the  situation  and  said  he  hoped  for  the  sake  of 
peace  that  the  man  would  be  convicted.  The  watchman 
was  found  guilty  of  manslaughter  in  the  second  degree, — 
and  sentenced  to  the  paradise,  San  Ramon,  for  eight 
years.  The  honor  of  Ami  Montabilin  was  avenged,  and 
peace  reigned  once  more  over  Lanao. 

Such  thin  ice  must  governors  and  judges  skate  over  at 
every  turn  in  making  “mercy  season  justice.” 

Mohammedan  Schools  with  American  Teachers 

The  most  wonderful  tale  in  Mindanao  has  been  saved 
for  the  last.  It  is  just  this  — that  for  the  first  time  in  all 
the  history  of  the  green  stocking,  a Mohammedan  nation 
is  going  to  school  to  Christian  teachers.  That  is  mar- 
velous enough,  but  there  is  something  still  more  marvel- 
ous— they  are  sending  GIRLS  to  school. 

To  appreciate  that  miracle  one  must  know  that  women 
among  Mohammedans  are  slaves.  It  is  contrary  to  all 
Moslem  custom  for  them  to  be  educated.  As  an  Indian 
Moslem  visiting  the  Moros  explained,  “The  place  of  wom- 
an is  to  be  subservient  to  man,  and  if  she  becomes  a little 


20 


educated  she  talks  back,  and  you  cannot  keep  her  in  her 
place.  No,  it  will  never  do  to  educate  women.” 

But  the  Moros  are  educating  their  girls,  Moslem  cus- 
tom or  no  Moslem  custom.  As  these  young  people,  boys 
and  girls,  get  modern  ideas  they  begin  to  lose  faith  in  the 
civilization  and  the  religion  which  kept  them  in  war,  pov- 
erty and  injustice.  The  new  generation  is  open  to  a new 
religion  as  well  as  a new  civilization. 

The  Sultan  of  Sulu  is  the  religious  leader  of  all  the 
Moros.  His  daughter  is  now  in  the  United  States,  study- 
ing, with  the  daughter  of  Aguinaldo,  and  is  seriously 
weighing  the  question  whether  she  dare  become  a Chris- 
tian and  go  back  to  her  father. 

Moreover,  a considerable  number  of  young  Moro  men 
have  become  Christians.  One  of  them  has  been  ordained 
as  a Christian  missionary  to  his  own  people  and  has  a 
strong  following  in  Siasi.  This  remarkable  young  man, 
Mateas  Quadra  by  name,  is  a born  leader  with  all  the  pent 
up  passion  of  his  race,  now  turned  toward  “a  burning  de- 
sire to  serve  my  people,”  as  he  writes. 

All  who  know  the  Moros,  their  wonderful  progress  in 
the  past  twenty  years,  their  intense  admiration  for  Amer- 
icans, believe  that  here  as  never  before  in  the  history  of 
Mohammedanism  is  a people  ready  to  be  Christianized. 
The  government  has  done  more  than  half  of  it  already. 
It  will  not  be  easy  or  simple,  but  it  is  not  at  all  impossible. 
There  are  in  America  strong  men  and  women  who  could 
be  worthy  successors  of  the  great  administrators  we  have 
had  in  Mindanao,  who  could  command  the  admiration  of 
the  Moros  and  could  lead  them  to  Christ. 

Christianizing  the  Moros 

This  is  not  a task  for  either  timid  souls  or  snobs.  Men 
of  great  human  love  and  of  dauntless  courage,  men  who 
have  no  race  prejudice,  but  can  see  the  manhood  in  the 
Moros  and  bring  it  to  the  surface,  real  men  who  draw 
other  men  to  themselves,  have  got  to  do  this  task.  Men 


21 


of  the  calibre  needed  are  rare  but  we  have  many  of  them 
in  America. 

Bishop  Brent,  while  he  was  in  the  Philippines,  became 
so  enthusiastic  about  the  Moros,  that  three  society  women 
of  large  means,  infected  by  his  zeal,  went  to  Jolo  and  did 
remarkable  deeds  of  mercy  for  nearly  a year.  The  best 
known  of  these  is  Mrs.  Lorillard  Spencer.  “The  world 
can  never  know,”  says  Bishop  Brent,  “the  purity  of  motive 
and  spaciousness  of  vision  that  actuated  and  sustained  the 
three  ladies  who  volunteered  to  spend  a year  of  work  in 
Christ’s  name  in  Jolo  amid  conditions  that  defied  the 
centuries  and  discouraged  the  bravest.  They  have  won  a 
name  and  place  among  the  Moros  of  the  Island  of  Jolo 
that  no  Christians  in  history,  men  or  women,  have  ever 
held.  Our  little  band  of  women  have  created  an  oppor- 
tunity for  permanent  work,  which  but  for  them,  would 
have  been  many  years  in  coming.” 

The  Christianization  of  the  Moros  is  a case  of  now  or 
never.  If  the  American  flag  withdraws  and  the  roots  of 
Christianity  have  not  sunk  deep  under  the  guidance  of 
American  missionaries,  there  will  be  no  later  chance.  For 
the  Moros,  like  all  Mohammedans,  are  fatalists.  “It  is 
the  will  of  Allah  that  they  should  listen  to  Americans” 
while  America  has  control  over  them.  When  the  Philip- 
pines become  independent  it  will  be  another  story. 

Whatever  we  may  think  about  missions  in  general,  we 
have  reason  to  be  interested  in  this  enterprise  just  as 
American  citizens,  who  want  to  see  the  Philippines  make 
a great  success  of  their  experience  in  democracy.  We  do 
not  want  them  to  have  rebellions  on  their  hands. 

But  a Mohammedan  people  in  the  Southern  Islands  will 
jeopardize  the  peace  of  the  Philippines.  They  say  very 
frankly  that  they  will  recommence  their  long  delayed  con- 
quest of  the  Philippines,  and  unless  they  change  their  re- 
ligious ideas  they  certainly  will  try  it. 

We  have  not  done  our  duty  by  the  Filipino  people  un- 


til  we  have  Christianized  the  Moros.  This  is  not  a senti- 
mental or  a denominational  question  in  any  sense.  It  is 
practical  American  sense,  and  should  enlist  the  hearty 
sympathy  of  every  American,  Catholic,  Protestant  or 

Jewish. 

We  have  seen  enough  of  them  Christianized  to  know 
the  mighty  zeal  they  have.  It  is  perfectly  evident  that  a 
Christianized  Moro  nation  would  turn  down  upon  the 
fifty  millions  of  Mohammedans  to  the  south  of  them  in 
Borneo,  Java,  Sumatra  and  the  Straits,  and  begin  to 
storm  those  Islands  for  Christianity. 

The  experience  of  a century  ought  to  have  taught  us 
that  no  white  man  or  thousand  white  men  are  going  to 
convert  Mohammedans.  We  do  not  know  the  Oriental 
mind  well  enough. 

If  we  want  to  make  inroads  in  that  great  green  stocking, 
our  strategy  is  to  get  Oriental  Mohammedans  themselves 
to  do  it. 

For  centuries  the  Moros  have  been  the  most  formidable 
people  of  their  numbers  in  the  Far  East.  They  are  the 
choicest  people  we  could  have  found  to  begin  to  unravel 
Mohammedanism  at  the  heel. 

They  will  go  among  their  backward  kinsmen  of  the 
Malay  Islands.  They  will  say: 

“Once  we  were  backward,  stagnant,  afraid,  hungry,  like 
yourselves.  Now  we  are  educated,  progressive,  prosper- 
ous, peaceful,  happy.  The  Philippines  are  the  proof  of 
what  Christianity  can  do  for  Mohammedans.” 

The  ancient  pirates  of  the  Far  East  will  become  the 
key  to  the  Moslem  problem.  It  is  in  their  blood  to  do  it 
and  they  will. 

No  such  opportunity  as  that  has  confronted  Christianity 
for  the  last  fourteen  hundred  years  of  Christian-Moslem 
conflict. 


23 


The  Thrilling  Tale  of  the 
Philippines 

AN  ILLUSTRATED  LECTURE 
By  Rev.  Frank  C.  Laubach,  Ph.D.,  Missionary- 

This  lecture  puts  in  popular  form  a message 
that  has  stirred  the  country  from  coast  to  coast. 
It  begins  with  official  America’s  gratifying  but 
unfinished  service  in  behalf  of  the  Philippines, 
and  ends  with  suggestions  as  to  how  Christian 
America  can  help  make  the  Islands  a Beacon  of 
Hope”  to  the  rest  of  Asia.  Naturally  it  gets  its 
illustrations  from  Mindanao,  the  Board  s ‘ respon- 
sibility” in  the  archipelago.  It  shows  an  intimacy 
with  the  life  and  problems  of  the  pagan  High- 
lander and  Mohammedan  Moro,  as  well  as  of  the 
“Christian”  Filipino.  It  describes  the  best  work- 
ing methods  of  the  missionary,  and  stimulates  a 
particular  interest  in  mission  work  for  the  Mo- 
hammedan Moro. 

These  slides  are  loaned  to  Congregational 
churches  on  payment  of  express  charges,  and  may 
be  obtained  from  JOHN  G.  HOSMF.R,  Agent, 
Room  102,  14  Beacon  Street,  Boston,  Mass.,  or 
from  the  District  offices  as  follows: — 

Rev.  W.  W.  Scuddcr,  D.  D.,  287  Fourth  Ave.,  New  York. 

Rev.  William  F.  English,  Jr.,  19  South  La  Salle  Street, 
Chicago,  HI. 

Rev.  Henry  H.  Kelsey,  D.  I)..  Phelan  Building.  San 
Francisco,  Cal. 


